At this current moment in time, there is this popular belief in the self-development, spiritual, growth communities that there is only one life to live and You should not, under any circumstances let it go to waste.
That You should do something spectacular with Your life, be very special and make some great change happen in the world.
A very detrimental belief. Obviously depends on where You approach this belief from.
In my personal experience, this has led to chronic fatigue and obsessive, depressive thoughts, overworking and pleasing of others.
So I needed to find a way out of this. I wanted freedom.
Let us explore this idea further.
Is it even true?
Let’s dissect it into smaller pieces so we can make better sense of this.
We only have one life. Let’s say that this statement is actually true (it is not, You have an infinite amount of lives in an infinite amount of realities, You are life itself.)
Why would it be so bad to waste Your life doing something You enjoy instead?
Why is there such a need to be special and achieve great things?
The whole idea starts with us feeling not good enough deep down. It starts with the hollowness we do our best to fill with achievements, being special.
Our mind develops a need to be seen, to feel worthy in the eyes of others. It thinks this will finally fill that emptiness that still lurks inside. It will not.
Things started for the sake of filling that void inside will only end up in disappointment. Even if You achieve those things. Believe me, I know, I’ve tried this many times.
To be perfectly clear, I’m not putting down living a meaningful life or achieving something. Or taking action or doing businesses in the material world. Absolutely not. These are all very good things.
What I’m talking about is doing it for the right reasons.
So why would it be so bad to waste Your life?
Ask Yourself this question, is it even possible?
It is not.
A life is there to be lived. If it is lived, it is not a wasted life. It is what it’s meant to be. It has served it’s purpose.
The deeper question You and I need to ask is, are we deep down feeling like we are wasting our lives?
Should we and can we do more?
And for what purpose and reason?
If You ask those questions You will get much closer to Your inner knowing and truth.
Don’t be scared to waste Your life living it the way You decide to live it. You are the only one who has to live with the consequences either way.
For the sake of clarity, I’m not supporting passivity or not taking action. All I want to show You is that if You take something very literally from somewhere other than Yourself, a belief or an idea, and You don’t treat it as such. It has the capacity to create suffering in Your life.
Because it is someone else’s truth and experience.
As is this particular piece.
Ian Altosaar
